Plug headers are known which utilize tab receptacle contact terminals for mating with receptacle connectors having blade-like male terminals within a large receptacle cavity. Such plug headers are used for instance in control units for automobiles utilizing microprocessor chips to control various powered functions within the automobile such as high speed fans and power windows and so on, at a typical current level of 15 amperes. Such a header is mounted on the control unit to matingly receive the receptacle connector of the cable harness, and its contact terminals are electrically connected to circuits of a printed circuit board. The receptacle contact sections of the terminals are disposed in respective passageways proximate the mating face of the housing to receive blade-like contact sections of the male terminals, and each receptacle contact section consists of a pair of opposed wide double-back cantilever spring arms having formed lead-ins to assist aligning the blade, and which electrically engage both sides of the blade upon full insertion. However, the blades in the receptacle cavity of the receptacle connector are commonly not well aligned and occasionally may require a more significant alighment mechanism than is provided by the lead-in of the known mating connector, and the known lead-in system can result in stubbing and damage to one or both of the mating terminals, requiring their replacement. Also, with opposing wide spring arms it is common for at least one of the arms to engage the blade firmly at only one location across the blade, with the remainder of the arm angled slightly away from the blade, and this may lead to overheating of the mated contacts and consequent damage and failure.
An improved tab receptacle contact terminal is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,971 assigned to the asignee hereof, which discloses a dual beam spring contact arm opposing a single wide beam spring contact arm, with diverging forward sections of the dual beam and wide beam contact arms. However, the housing has terminal passageways with narrow openings, which have lead-in surfaces at the mating face which perform essentially all of the aligning of the blade of the mating terminal. The diverging forward sections of the contact arms are disposed behind the passageway lead-ins and are protected thereby from engagement with the inserted blade.
It is desirable to provide a receptacle contact which assures electrical engagement under sufficient normal force with a blade at at least two laterally spaced locations, and which reduces the tendency to overheat at 15 to 20 amperes current, while being resilient and capable of being formed by stamping and forming.
It is further desirable to provide an improved anti-stubbing capability in a connector having receptacle terminals.
It is even further desirable to improve the resistance to stress on the receptacle contact arms.